Disassembly and Reassembly Of the Little Sharps Rifle

For the history buffs, the first of many patents issued to Christian Sharps was U. S. No. 5763, dated September 12, 1848. In that patent, you’ll find five distinct claims. The fifth one of those claims might sound a bit odd to modern-day gunsmiths, for it refers to the "slide." The slide Mr. Sharps was referring to is what we would calla "breechblock" today.

In the patent, he says that the slide "is furnished with a knife edge to sheer off the projecting butt of the cartridge." This, of course, refers to a paper or linen cartridge that contains a measured charge of powder and a bullet or ball.

Prior to the appearance of breechloading rifles, a soldier was obliged to bite off the end of the paper or linen, dump the powder down the barrel, withdraw his ramrod, start the bullet into the bore, push it down into contact with the powder, prime the nipple, and full-cock the hammer. Then he could shoot’one shot. He needed to have at least a few front teeth, which’d ental care being what it was in those days’was not exactly a forgone conclusion, and it helped if he didn’t object to the taste of gunpowder.

Even still, his rate of fire was lousy. In fact, the best of the Civil War reenactors I’ve seen manage to get off a maximum of five shots in 60 seconds, which is pretty respectable, all things considered. But they rarely hit what they were shooting at, because there was no time to aim their rifles. The earliest Sharps was a breechloader. The breech didn’t close very tightly, however, and the fire and fury from the paper or linen cartridge leaked out all around the breech.

Breech loading helped to reduce reloading time over the older muzzleloaders, but they did little to improve accuracy. The arrival and acceptance of metallic cartridges improved both reloading speed and accuracy for Sharp’s rifles. One result of this was the nickname given to the Sharps rifle by Confederate forces. They called it "Beecher’s Bible," referring to the Brooklyn, New York, preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, who was an extremely vocal opponent of slavery.

A few years after gaining high praise from Union soldiers, particularly distinguishing itself with Colonel Berdan’s Sharpshooters, the Sharps Rifle Company moved to Hartford, Connecticut, and began adver- Top of page: The Little Sharps, made for Charles Daly by Armi Sport of Italy, is a scaled-down replica of Christian Sharps’ Model 1874.

It weighs less than 6 pounds and is chambered for a wide variety of modern cartridges. tising that it was prepared to supply its rifles "in all of the latest improvements and metallic cartridges." This ad appeared about 1872, and Sharps wasn’t just blowing smoke. In 1873, they introduced the Creedmore rifle in .44 caliber with a choice of three powder loads. The Creedmore was outstanding in 1,000-yard competition, taking dozens of national and international championships.

The achievements of this rifle are still commemorated with long-range matches bearing its name. Though the Sharps Rifle Company closed its doors in 1881, the popularity of Christian Sharps’ rifle never faded, and’whether fairly or unfairly’t he Sharps was blamed in some quarters for the near extinction of the American bison. I’m pretty sure that there are almost as many Sharps being made today as there ever were.

A lot of that credit goes to cowboy-action shooters, but the rifle has also become popular with big-game hunters as well. Hunters understandably lean toward the .44/70 or .45/70, the

The lever-plunger pin is located at "A," and the receiverlever pin was removed at "B." The ejector (C) can be lifted from the receiver if it doesn’t fall free when the breechblock (D) is removed. .44/90, and the .44/105 cartridges. The Sharps built for those loads have very long barrels and weigh as much as 12 pounds. That’s a lot to lug around on an extended search for a trophysize animal, and a rifle of that size is no good at all for smaller game.

The Little Sharps I’m focusing on here has transformed those negatives into a positive. This scaled-down replica of the 1874 Sharps, imported from Italy by Charles Daly is chambered for the round credited with taking more Cdeer than any other’t he .30-30 along with a wide variety of others.

This version lacks a safety device found almost universally on modern firearms’a hammer block’but the hammer does have a strong half-cock and the trigger is a crisp double set. (I believe I had barely 3 pounds of NRA weights on the forward trigger when the sear released.) Its octagonal barrel measures 26 inches in length’quite short when compared to the length of the original 1874, and the weight is under 6 pounds, which is a lot more reasonable for lugging through the woods in search of white tails.

So, with the historical facts out of the way, let’s get down to business. Field Stripping After making certain that the chamber is empty, all live ammo is elsewhere, and with the barrel pointed in a safe direction, close the action, pull the hammer back to half cock, and open the lever. The lever-plunger pin (#27) and the receiver-lever pin (#28) are located on the right side of the receiver. Take a 1/16- or 3/32-inch punch to depress the plunger pin so you can rotate the lever past it about 180 degrees.

Then turn the rifle upside down. Wiggle the lever pin a few degrees back and forth while pulling it from the receiver. Slide the lever (#26) and breechblock assembly (#17) up and out. The extractor (#18) usually falls free when the block is lifted. If fouling prevents this, the part is easily separated from its receiver slot. Detailed Disassembly The place to start is with the tangsight assembly by undoing its screws (#57). This assembly can be further taken down easily to replace a damaged component.

The parts most likely to take a serious hit are the rear leaf (#54) and slide (#56) if they’re left upright and the rifle is dropped on them. Don’t attempt to straighten them

1 Stock 2 Forend 3 Barrel 4 Buttplate 5 Buttplate Screws 6 Barrel Lug 7 Lever Spring 8 Spring or Plate Screws 9 Forend Screws 10 Forend Screw Washers 11 Sideplate Screws 12 Rear Tang Screw 13 Front Tang Screw 14 Firing Pin Pusher unless you have plenty of time on your hands. Instead, order in replacement parts, remove the side screw (#59), install the new parts, and reinstall the side screw. There are two sideplate screws (#11) on the left side of the action.

Back them both out a little (about 1/16 inch to clear the receiver). Use a plastic or rawhide mallet to tap on the screw heads a few times and loosen the sideplate (#31) on the action’s right side.

Undo the screws complete- 15 Firing Pin 16 Firing Pin Spring 17 Breech Lock 18 Extractor 19 Link-to-Breech Block Screw 20 Link-to-Lever Screw 21 Firing Pin Cover Plate 22 Link 23 Lever Pin Plunger Screw 24 Lever Pin Plunger Spring 25 Receiver 26 Lever 27 Lever Pin Plunger 28 Receiver Lever Pin ly, pull trigger #41 to the rear to ease the sear tension, and remove the plate to the right. The firing mechanism will remain attached to it.

It’s held in place by three screws (#40) in addition to a stirrup screw (#34), a mainspring (#33), and a mainspring-retaining screw (#32). Study it closely before going to work on it. Begin with the mainspring. It’s heavy’t oo heavy to be compressed with fingers. Two alternate means of compressing it are practical.

One is 29 Hammer Screw 30 Hammer 31 Lock Plate 32 Main Spring Retainer Screw 33 Main Spring 34 Stirrup Screw 35 Fly 36 Stirrup 37 Tumbler 38 Sear 39 Bridle 40 Bridle Screws 41 Rear Trigger 42 Front Trigger 43 Trigger Pin Charles Daly Little Sharps Rifle (Specifications subject to change without notice) 44 Rear Trigger Regulating Screw 45 Regulating Screw 46 Trigger Plate 47 Rear Trigger Spring 48 Front Trigger Spring 49 Front Trigger Spring Screw 50 Front Sight Screw 51 Front Sight Leaf 52 Front Sight Base 53 Rear Sight Base 54 Rear Sight Leaf 55 Rear Sight Eye Piece 56 Rear Sight Slide 57 Rear Sight Base Screws 59 Rear Sight Side Screw 60 Rear Sight Spring 61 Rear Trigger Plate Screw 62 Plug Screw 63 Firing Pin Cover Plate Screw with a mainspring vise (from Brownells), which you should own if you do much work on sidelock smoke poles.

The other is with a pair of needle-nose locking pliers with padded jaws. The closed end of the mainspring wears an integral pin that seats in the sideplate. Once you’ve squeezed the arms of the spring enough to remove the tension on it, insert a small screwdriver blade under its closed end and carefully pry the spring away from the plate. ¨

Right top: This bottom view of the trigger plate identifies the rear trigger adjusting screw (A) and the regulating screw (B). Right center: This is the trigger assembly as it appears from the right and left sides. Right bottom: This photo shows the trigger assembly as it appears after being removed from the stock. After you’ve memorized the relationships between the stirrup, the bridle, the tumbler, and the sear, back out all three screws (#40) to remove the sear and bridle.

After the sear and bridle comes the tumbler. Remove the hammer screw (#29), the hammer (#30), and open your vise jaws wide enough to serve as a lengthwise support for the plate. Besides holding the hammer in the plate, the hammer screw does the same with the tumbler. As a result, the tumbler may be on the stubborn side and choose to remain in the plate. You don’t have to put up with this attitude. Use a 3/32inch punch and give said tumbler a nudge.

There’s a little something you have to be concerned about when nudging. A very little something. It’s a very important part known as the fly (#35). Its function is to keep the hammer off half cock when the gun is being fired. Lose it now or omit it later on and you might be giving a nice 10-pointer a second chance at life, which will not make your customer very happy. Now turn out the firing-pin coverplate screw (#63) and remove the cover plate (#21).

It also serves as a gas seal and is present on all current production Little Sharps rifles. With the plate out of the way, pull the firingpin pusher (#14) from the block along with the firing pin (#15) and its spring (#16). Locate and undo the barrelblock link screw (#19) and the lever screw (#20) and you will free the lever (#26) and its link (#22). The tang screws (#12 and 13) retain the stock to the action. Remove them and the plate screw (#8) and pull the stock off to the rear.

The trigger plate (#46) will come with it, along with all the elements of the trigger assembly. The plate, in turn, can be removed from the stock by backing out the rear plate screw (#61). I’d move cautiously from here on, and only loosen a screw enough to detach it from an associated part. And only do so after memorizing the original relationships of the parts. The accompanying photo will help. It pictures the trigger group as it comes from the factory after it has been separated from the stock.

Two screws require special mention. These are the rear trigger-regulating screw (#44) and the regulating screw (#45). The rear screw works with the rear trigger spring to ensure the rifle will not discharge when fully cocked. The regulating screw adjusts the sear. Though all these screw/spring functions are closely related, there is no set formula for adjusting them. That’s primarily because no two rifles B A are exactly the same.

You have to keep going back and forth, tweaking the spring position and screw pressures until any danger of an accidental discharge has been eliminated. I’ll add my own rules here: No hunting rifle should have less than a 3- or 4pound trigger pull (preferably 4). The forend is dismantled by removing its screws (#9). The lever spring (#7) is retained by its own screw (#8). You won’t need any further advice for taking apart the forend assembly, and so I will offer none. It’s simple.

There is also no need for me to add additional paragraphs on reassembly; the Little Sharps really does go back together in reverse order. I’ll only add one reminder: When reassembling the lock mechanism, do as you did when disassembling it, and take pressure off the sear by pulling back slightly on the rear trigger. I